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GOVERNMENT’S NEW POLICY OF UPI FOR NRIs

2nd February, 2023 POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

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  • The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) paved the way for international (phone) numbers to be able to transact using UPI.
    • Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India. The interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions. It is used on mobile devices to instantly transfer funds between two bank accounts.
  • The Union Cabinet also approved an incentive scheme with an outlay of ₹2,600 crores for the promotion of RuPay debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) in FY 2022-23.
  • International numbers;
    • Non-resident accounts such as non-resident external accounts (NRE) and non-resident ordinary accounts (NRO), having international numbers, will now be allowed into the UPI payment system.
    • NRE accounts are those used by non-residents to transfer earnings from foreign countries to India while NRO accounts are used to manage income earned in India by non-residents. These incomes could be rent, interest, and pension, among other things.
  • At present, users from 10 countries will be able to avail of the facility; Singapore, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the U.K.
    • It will allow NRIs to use the payment method for making utility bill payments for their families (or themselves) in India, make purchases from e-commerce or online platforms and make payments to physical merchants who accept UPI QR-based payments when they travel to India.
  • Presently, there is no MDR charge levied for RuPay-based debit card and UPI transactions.
    • The merchant discount rate is the rate charged to a merchant for payment processing services on debit and credit card transactions.
    • It is collected by the acquirer to compensate the varied service providers and intermediaries in the payment system.
  • As per the DigiDhan dashboard maintained by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, BHIM-UPI accounted for 52% of all digital payments in FY 2021-22.
    • At present, it stands at 59.74%.

 

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